Delhi High Court restores order restraining Zydus from selling cancer drug after patent infringement claim

The Delhi High Court recently restored a single-judge order restraining Indian Pharma company Zydus Lifesciences from manufacturing, selling or marketing the product 'Sigrima' alleged to be a biological similar of a breast cancer drug produced by Switzerland-based F-Hoffmann-La Roche AG.

A Division Bench of Justice Yashwant Varma and Justice Ravinder Dudeja said that the single-judge had incorrectly vacated the injunction order of July 9 despite stating several times that it would not go into the validity of the injunction.

“Once the learned Single Judge had taken the position that the correctness or otherwise of 09 July 2024 was not being proposed to be gone into, we fail to comprehend or appreciate how the said order could have been ultimately vacated. We consequently have no hesitation in holding that the impugned order is rendered wholly unsustainable,” the Court observed in its order of October 16.

The Court was hearing a patent infringement suit filed by the Swiss against Zydus, taking objection to the production of 'Sigrima' .

It alleged that the product was a biosimilar of the original Pertuzumab (Perjeta).

A single-judge on July 9 had granted interim injunction in the matter. However, the same was later vacated on October 9.

While passing the order, the single-judge had extended the interim injunction till October 23 to allow the Swiss company to file an appeal. 

On appeal, the Division Bench on October 16 reinstated the interim injunction as per which Zydus stands restrained "from marketing/ selling their product “Sigrima”, which is a biological similar of Plaintiffs’ “Perjeta ®”/ “Pertuzumab".

It also directed single-judge to consider the matter afresh.

Subsequently, when the matter came up for hearing before single-judge on November 5, Senior Advocate Rajshekhar Rao, appearing for Zydus, submitted that it has filed an before the Supreme Court against restoration of the injunction.

In light of this, the single-judge deferred further hearing in the interim injunction applications till December 2.

Senior Advocates Mukul Rohatgi, Sandeep Sethi and Arvind Nigam with advocates Pravin Anand, Shrawan Chopra, Archana Shankar, Prachi Agarwal, Achyut Tewari, N Mahavir, Riya Kumar and Agnish Aditya appeared for Roche.

Senior Advocates Dushyant Dave and Rajiv Nayar with advocates Bitika Sharma, Vrinda Pathak, Sandhya Kukreti, SL Soujanya and Rajnish represented Zydus.

[Read October 16 order]